Pilots flying Amazon planes say company might not deliver

Union pilots who fly products for Amazon.com are taking concerns about pay, working conditions and staffing shortages directly to online shoppers with a digital marketing blitz that suggests the internet retailer may struggle to deliver holiday gifts on time.

The union is running advertisements on Facebook and Google on Friday, targeting Amazon customers. If clicked on, the ads send people to the website canamazondeliver.com, paid for by the Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224.

The ad campaign could haunt Amazon even after a federal judge last month ordered striking pilots back to work on the second day of a walkout. Even a small disruption now can be costly. Online spending in November and December will increase 11 per cent this year to $91.6 billion, according to Adobe Systems. Amazon has to increase capacity to grab as big a slice of this spending as possible.

At issue are contract negotiations with about 1,650 teamster pilots and their employers — Air Transport Services Group and Atlas Air Worldwide. The companies both agreed this year to fly planes stuffed with Amazon inventory.

This is Amazon’s first holiday season since it unveiled Amazon Prime Air, a fleet of about 40 planes that reduce its dependence on FedEx and United Parcel Service. The labour issues involving its contract partners signal the initiative is off to a rocky start.

Source: Bloomberg